The Language of Angels

Paul teaches at length on the subject of speaking in unknown tongues. He makes it clear that if a person can speak in the tongues of men or angels, but doesn’t love, that person is nothing but noise (1 Corinthians 13:1).

To this day, the teaching of unknown tongues and tongues of angels is brought up often among Christians. The meaning of this has been debated for centuries, and especially since the rise of the charismatic movement of the church.

Unknown toungues are easily understood to be foreign languages or languages foreign to the teachers and readers of God’s Word.

The important question, at least for me, is: What is the language of angels?

For the answer, go to http://www.flocksdiner.com/.

Blessings,
Johnny

Too Godly for God

There are many Christian denominations that place restrictions on what God has provided. Additional restrictions are seen as more godly, and some forms of asceticism are generally respected as honorable to God.

I have heard preachers teach that we should not only devote ten percent of our assets to the work of God; we should devote one hundred percent. Maybe those preachers missed reading Jesus’ warning to those who did just that in Matthew 15:3-9. Jesus clearly taught that a person can attempt to honor God by his or her excessive self-denial, and actually be practicing disobediene to God.

For the Jews of Jesus’ day, “Total abstinence was not considered a virtue” (Abraham Cohen, Everyman's Talmud, 232).

Read the rest at http://www.flocksdiner.com/.

Blessings,
Johnny

Sharing Without Fear

Over the last few years, I have learned a great deal about the blogging world.

Whenever I post an article, I am always aware that there will be those who agree with my research and reflection, and there will be those who disagree at many levels, to include the down-right ticked-off-at-me.

Fortunately, I learn from my agreeable brothers and sisters and those who want to tar and feather me. In fact, when folks don't agree, I am challenged and privileged to dig deeper or even change my perspective based on new information shared by others.

Please feel free to post a thread on the Coffee Talk Forum at www.flocksdiner.com, even if others may call you a heretic. We can't learn and grow if we are afraid to share our deepest beliefs and philosophies.

Many blessings,
Johnny

Living With Arrows

Isn’t it true that life can be very cruel? Not all of us experience the same form or measure of cruelty as others, but all of us know the feeling of being hurt. As believers, we are instructed to forgive and love others as we would have them love us.

What if that was actually easy? What if we could all detach ourselves from the pain of the past? What if every painful experience was like a bruise; it showed up, hurt for a while, and finally went away without a trace of its existence ever to be seen again?

The ancient sages taught that hurting others could be likened to a sword or an arrow.

Come by www.flocksdiner.com to read the rest. I've saved you a seat.

Blessings,
Johnny

Dear Flock's Diner Family,

I am so grateful for you and for all that you do to encourage and support this ministry. I pray that you are all doing fantastic as you seek out God’s will for your lives.

It is hard for me to believe that almost 7000 of you stop by the site to read and listen. We have become a very large internet campus family as Flock’s Diner continues to cross the web-sea.

Hopefully you are blessing God by what you are learning and sharing.

The next step is to get feedback from you. Flock’s Diner now has a Coffee Talk Forum where you are encouraged to share your own thoughts, fears, doubts, and celebrations in order that others may be able to grow from your words. With an average of 900 individual people every seven days, and almost 7000 individual people in the last four months stopping by, I know that we can all share something that will help others to grow.

Thank you for your willingness to minister to me and others at Flock’s Diner.

I eagerly await your comments on the blogs and your discussion topics and comments at the Coffee Talk Forum at www.flocksdiner.com.

Be a blessing,
Johnny

The Meek Shall Inherit "Eretz"

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5, NIV)
My doctor asked me, "Who are the meek?" My guess is that when someone asks this, they want to know who is going to get the planet and all of its stuff.

Let's dig.

There are a couple of interesting points that are often overlooked or unknown by Christian readers and teachers of this verse. The Replacement theologian will quickly dismiss the fact that Jesus is speaking to Jews, while the empathetic pastor will quickly share that all of those who allow themselves to be abused without retaliating will be greatly rewarded in the afterlife to make up for their lack in this life.

Matthew Henry teaches in his commentary that "they shall inherit the land of Canaan, a type of heaven." Hurray for Mr. Henry. However, Mr. Henry is only partly right, at least according to David Stern the writer of the Jewish New Testament Commentary.

As Stern points out, Jesus is quoting Psalm 37:11 to remind them of God's promise...

To read the rest, I have saved you a seat at www.flocksdiner.com.

Blessings,
Johnny

Put Down the Flyswatter

What is the thing with smacking children for doing wrong? If someone smacked me every time I did something wrong, I’d have to wear body armor.

Not long ago, while sitting in a restaurant with a few others, there was a table across from us with a family who had a small child eating with them. The little boy was probably less than two-years-old. On the table beside the baby lay a flyswatter, and each time the baby did something wrong...

To read the rest, I have prepared a seat for you at www.flocksdiner.com.
Blessings,Johnny

Baptized for the Dead?

There is a great deal of debate over whether or not the Bible has been preserved in its original state. The fact of the matter is that we don’t have a complete Bible in its original state. In fact, the Greek New Testament that is used by Bible students and scholars is known to be put together by Erasmus using many different portions of many different ancient scripts.

According to Bart Ehrman’s studies in his book, Misquoting Jesus, even Erasmus was forced to add fillers to complete the Holy text (Mark 16:9-20, for example).

The point that those who held the only copy of the Scriptures in their town and having the ability to change the texts by adding or subtracting is well-founded. Even our beloved NIV has many passages of Scripture which have been removed, placed in the footnotes, or have added explanations stating “The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have (fill in the passage).”

One particular passage of Scripture that my feeble mind has a hard time accepting as original is found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church.

To read the rest, I've saved you a seat at the Diner. http://www.flocksdiner.com/.

Meet the Flockers!

Meet the Flockers!

www.flocksdiner.com

New Servers at Flock's Diner

Hey everyone,

There are now two different teachers on the Flock's Diner Podcast.

You will be blessed by the passion of Captain Vance Murphy.

Thanks for listening. www.flocksdiner.com

www.flocksdiner.com/podcast/FlocksDinerPodcast.xml

Blessings,
Johnny

What's In Your Water?

Most of us are more than happy to share a glass of water with someone who is thirsty.

However, we don't all have the right to share the water that comes from our own supply. Some of us have water that will do more to harm the thirsty than help them.

What is in your water?

Check out "Living Water" at www.flocksdiner.com/podcast/FlocksDinerPodcast.xml or go to www.flocksdiner.com and click on podcast for those of you who have iTunes.

Blessings,
Johnny

Please bless me by checking out my podcast.

Hello friends,

If you haven't checked out my podcast yet, please do. I believe you'll be blessed, and you can bless me by sending me an email of your comments.

Thanks,
Johnny

Flock's Diner VIP's

If you haven't read the latest article or heard the latest podcast, come on by the Flock's Diner.

http://www.flocksdiner.com/

www.flocksdiner.com/podcast/FlocksDinerPodcast.xml

See you there.
Blessings,Johnny

Jesus Real B-Day and Latest Podcasts.

To find out what month Jesus was born, check out www.flocksdiner.com, the blog.

To hear the latest sermon, check out www.flocksdiner.com, the podcast or go to www.flocksdiner.com/podcast/FlocksDinerPodcast.xml.

Desmond,
Thank you for all of your hard work on Flock's Diner from Web and Flow Design.

Grace to all,
Johnny

Honeymoon

How important is passion in all of our relationships?

My latest audio teaching, "Honeymoon," gives us a look at the importance of keeping the fire in our relationships, including our relationship with Christ.

To hear the message go to www.flocksdiner.com/podcast/FlocksDinerPodcast.xml

You can also find it on iTunes by going to www.flocksdiner.com and click on "Podcast."

Be blessed,
Johnny

Please come to the new home of the Flock's Diner at www.flocksdiner.com.

www.flocksdiner.com

See You at the Diner

Hello friends and family,

The website is practically finished. There are only a few minor additions to be made.

If you'd like, you can go ahead and start commenting there at www.flocksdiner.com.

You'll also see a list of some of the resources that I use for study.

I'll be asking all of my friends to begin corresponding with me there soon and this site will be shut down.

See you at the Diner.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

"It's Okay, Baby."

Today, I took Ella to the cemetery near our house. We walked through the green grass, looking at all of the grave markers. I have always been intrigued by graveyards. I love to read the names and the years of their births and deaths, and try to imagine what their lives must have been like when they were alive.

I am especially curious when I read dates that reflect their births as being before the end of American slavery and their deaths being after slavery. How strange of a life they must have lived with all of the changes in such a time as the existance and abolition of humans owning humans. Disgusting sin!

As Ella and I walked through the graveyard, I would point out the grave markers of infants and tell her, “Here is where a little baby was buried. The baby died.” She really couldn’t understand exactly what I was saying, because she is not even three-years-old. But she did a very strange thing.

Every time I showed her a grave marker of an infant, she would sit on the grave marker, pull up a hand full of grass, pull the grass cupped in her hands toward her chest and cuddle it, while saying, “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.”

I swear, it took every bit of control I had to keep from crying.

I think females are the most amazing creatures that God has placed on the earth, no matter what their age.

Forever experiencing God through my children,
Johnny

A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action

Throughout the centuries, Christians have sustained persecution. In some areas and eras the persecution has been more physical and brutal than others.

Recently, I was part of a discussion where the topic of persecution being possible in this country in the not-too-distant future, due to the more militant branch of atheism that is sweeping across Europe and is peeking its head up in the U.S.

As I consider the statutes of Christianity, I can’t help but wonder if many of us have completely missed the point of what Jesus taught us to do as his followers.

Most Christians can only envision evangelism as sharing the theological, doctrinal, and scriptural facts of what we believe. Did Jesus expect that to be our task?

I don’t remember any person ever being persecuted for finding a thirsty person and bringing them a cold bottle of spring water. I also can’t remember anyone being punished for going into their house on a freezing night, finding their coat, and giving it to someone who needed one.

It appears that persecution happens more because of the fundamental verbalizing of our faith, than our washing of feet and feeding of bellies.

Check out the website. It's really coming along. www.flocksdiner.com

Thank you, Desmond.

Desmond is working very hard on creating a website for me. You can see how far he's come when you go to www.flocksdiner.com.

I'd love it if you checked it out and gave Des some well-deserved encouragement.

Creative suggestions may also be welcome and appreciated.

Thanks.

Johnny